The Japanese civilization was familiar with wheeled vehicles (China had them) and the Japanese had high technology skills, horses and oxen and advanced metallurgy. But their Emperors forbad the use of wheeled vehicles because of the wear and tear that would have resulted on their mountain roads, which were used extensively for foot and animal travel. Could this be an example of an enlightened government forsaking the use of technology to avoid damaging the environment? Or perhaps in a country with few large plains, a corps of carters and wheelwrights never had a chance to develop.

We know wheeled vehicles were used in China, the Middle East, and Egypt, mostly for military chariots. The technology caught on
in Europe for trade because the roads were actually paved (thanks to the Romans). Then again, maybe it was the fact that Roman security, made possible by a garrison logisic support system based on paved roads, allowed civilian long distance ground trade with oxcarts to develop.

Why not in the Americas is a mystery. The vast geographical diversity, cultural uniqueness and enormous temporal extent of the Andean, Central American, and the Valley of Mexico civilizations make it difficult to assign any single reason why the wheel never caught on anywhere.

My guess is ancient astronauts probably had something to do with it.